News update for Tue 2 July 2024
Your trusted guide to the top independent news and views of the day...
Welcome to your TrueNorth news update where every weekday afternoon we share curated articles from Australia’s independent news media sector.
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Scroll down for today’s news and views…
TODAY’S BREAKING NEWS UPDATES: See all the breaking news of the day through The Guardian here - and through 6 News here
Dan Rather: A Supreme Gift to Donald Trump - Steady
The American ideal that no person is above the law died today. The Supreme Court killed it. And the belief in an independent judiciary took a big hit too. Ruling along party lines, the Supreme Court handed down a 6-3 decision that says that Donald Trump (or any U.S. president) is immune from prosecution for official acts taken while in office. The court made a distinction between official and private conduct.
Read more from Dan Rather for his Steady blog
Also read >
Was Donald Trump a king during his presidency? The US supreme court thinks so - The Guardian
The Supreme Court decides, in effect, there will be no Trump trial before the election - Robert Reich
‘Above the law’ in some cases: Supreme Court gives Trump − and future presidents − a special exception that will delay his prosecution - The Conversation
How to birth a dictator - Bernard Keane for Crikey (paywall)
Australia’s ‘carbon budget’ may blow out by 40% under the Coalition’s nuclear energy plan – and that’s the best-case scenario - The Conversation
The Coalition’s pledge to build seven nuclear reactors, if elected, would represent a huge shift in energy policy for Australia. It also poses serious questions about whether this nation can meet its international climate obligations.
If Australia is to honour the Paris Agreement to limit global average temperature rise to 1.5˚C by mid-century, it can emit about 3 billion tonnes, or gigatonnes, of carbon dioxide (CO₂) over the next 25 years. This remaining allowance is what’s known as our “carbon budget”.
Gabrielle Chan: Extravagant maker of schemes: unpicking Barnaby Joyce’s anti-renewables campaign - The Guardian
The best conspiracy theories are built on a sniff of a fact and a general vibe. The truth is that a portion of rural people are pissed off with the fast and hard rollout of renewables and transmission lines. Companies are scrambling to harvest Australia’s inordinate sun and wind resources to decarbonise and make a buck after a decade of climate denial and dissembling – by Joyce’s own Coalition.
It doesn’t matter that the frantic pace is of their own making; the Coalition is more than ready to harness the resultant community grumblings.
Hence the nuclear option.
Read more from Gabrielle Chan for The Guardian
Also read > A baby born in April 2023 has never experienced a month that wasn’t the hottest on record - Pearls and Irritations
Guardian Essential poll: Albanese’s approval rating dips to new low amid signs Dutton on losing hand with nuclear
Anthony Albanese’s approval rating has dipped to a new low but there are signs the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, has gone all-in on a losing hand, with voters concerned about the cost and safety of nuclear energy.
Those are the results of the latest Guardian Essential poll of 1,141 Australians which found that nuclear energy has leapfrogged renewable energy as the perceived “most expensive” form of electricity.
Read more from Paul Karp for The Guardian
Also read > The Coalition’s nuclear fantasy serves short-term political objectives – and its fossil fuel backers - The Guardian
Paul Bongiorno: There’s no easy cure for Labor’s Payman pain - The New Daily
Anthony Albanese’s frustrations with young Western Australian senator Fatima Payman were palpable in an interview meant to sell his government’s tax cuts and cost-of-living relief.
Instead, it was derailed by her defiance of Labor Party team rules.
Albanese, like other senior ministers, had their media appearances dominated not by the government’s response to voters’ hip-pocket pain but by Payman’s declaration she would not be constrained on responding to the plight of Palestinians.
Read more from Paul Bongiorno for The New Daily
Also listen to > Fatima Payman and the cost of voting with her conscience - The Guardian’s Full Story Podcast
Jack Waterford: Beware: corrupt conduct is not always criminal - Pearls and Irritations
Last week, Anthony Albanese was reckoned by some to have caused a political coup by luring a former NSW Liberal Treasurer, Matt Kean out of NSW politics and into a Commonwealth position as chair of the climate change authority. Strictly, this might rate as a patronage job, rather than one controlled by public service Act processes. Kean has environmental credentials, but his appointment was neither at arm’s length, nor, in the ordinary sense on merit.
Read more from Jack Waterford for Pearls and Irritations
Today’s cartoon by Cathy Wilcox for The SMH/Age
TODAY’S BREAKING NEWS: See all the breaking news of the day through The Guardian here - and through 6 News here
Abul Rizvi: Labor and AAT feeling pressure of Dutton's trafficking scam legacy - Independent Australia
As the Albanese Government tightens onshore visa policy, we are seeing the inevitable rise in appeals to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT), particularly against student and asylum refusals.
For the first time since the massive labour trafficking scam abusing the asylum system started under Opposition Leader Peter Dutton in 2015-16, the backlog of asylum cases fell from a peak of 41,859 at end March 2024 to 40,683 at end May 2024. While a long way to go for the AAT to get on top of its asylum caseload, it is a start.
Read more from Abul Rizvi for Independent Australia
What will Australia’s crackdown on international uni students achieve? - Crikey
The surprise decision by the Albanese government to more than double the cost of international student visa applications to a non-refundable $1,600 is the latest blow to Australia’s universities.
The new fee is up from $710 — a 225% increase — and is now by far the highest price compared to Australia’s global competitors. Student visa fees are $278 (US$185) in the United States, $164 (CA$150) in Canada, $342 (NZ$375) in New Zealand and $931 (£490) in the United Kingdom.
It comes as controversial caps on international student numbers are set to be debated in Parliament and visa approvals, especially from major
Read more from Michael Sainsbury for Crikey (paywall)
Jane Caro: Class Warfare - The Monthly
Almost alone among the still functioning democracies, the Australian community has long had to fight to protect public education. No other nation funds education the way we do, yet most Australians remain blissfully ignorant of just what an outlier we are. New arrivals to this country, especially if they come from one of the previously mentioned democracies, often express astonishment at our lavish public funding of private schools, especially those that like to refer to themselves as elite. Not only do we generously fund private schools, we ask little in return.
Read more from Jane Caro for The Monthly
Australia’s health visualised - The Conversation
The health of a nation is a tricky thing to measure. People have ups and downs and one person's poor health is another's good health. However, there are some indicators of health that are universal – a long life free of disease, a perceived sense of wellbeing and minimal injury.
The latest biennial report from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) on the overall health of Australians seeks to measure these vital indicators.
Among other insights, it shows COVID has had a significant effect on Australians' health.
The ‘fair go’ has gone amid the cost of housing crisis and super perks for the wealthy - Michael West Media
The notion of a fair go is gone amid the cost of living crisis and the transfer of wealth from workers to wealthier Australians via tax breaks for property investors and superannuation perks.
If they tell you “work hard and you will be able to buy a home”, tell them they’re dreaming. Unless the dream is to move to the boondocks, the real trick for property ownership for younger Australians these days is to have rich parents, or marry well.
Read more from Michael West Media
Bob Brown: The price of extinction - The Politics
It’s not the first time that money has been the measure of a Tasmanian government’s facility to destroy nature. In 1888 the island state’s parliament enacted a law for a one pound (two dollars) bounty on the head of every thylacine (Tasmanian tiger), with a view to extirpating the creature. It succeeded. More than 2000 bounties were paid out to shooters and the last of the species died in 1936.
Read more from Bob Brown for The Politics
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Quick Links…
Muslim Vote group says it will target Labor ministers and whip at next federal election - The Guardian
Assange – the aftermath - Greg Barnes for Pearls and Irritations
Time almost up for Trudeau? - Inside Story
The Albanese government's $1 billion computer - 7am Podcast
Sports betting is ruining more than our sports - Tim Costello for Eureka Street
Mouldy bathrooms, broken air con and holes in the walls: new data shows Australian public school facilities in rapid decline - The Guardian
Are the far-right about to govern in France? - The News Agents Podcast
JLN members' ultimatum to Jacqui Lambie to 'butt out' of state affairs - The Advocate
TODAY’S BREAKING NEWS: See all the breaking news of the day through The Guardian here - and through 6 News here
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You’re up to date for Tuesday the 2nd July. See you tomorrow!
TODAY’S BREAKING NEWS: See all the breaking news of the day through The Guardian here - and through 6 News here